When in Rome
by MoonSet
Summary: Mitchell begins to contemplate going 'on the wagon'. Begins just before he meets George, and explores how their meeting affects his life.
1. Chapter 1

I can hear her blood pounding from across the room. Hear her pulse slowing as the alcohol takes effect. And I can smell it. I smell the blood as her heart beats it around her body and for a moment it's all I can do to hold myself back, a ravenous animal desperate to clamp its jaws around the neck of its prey.

'No,' I tell myself, 'concentrate. You've got to do this properly. I watch her for a moment longer - she starts to sway, it's taking all her effort to keep standing. That's good. She's ready. I pick up two glasses of lemonade, hers with a double shot of vodka, and put on my 'nice guy' face. I walk towards her. 'Are you ok?' I ask in my most concerned voice, 'maybe I should take you home, you've had a lot to drink'.

I'm still trying to fit the key into her front door when she starts unbuttoning my shirt. It takes everything I have not to rip her throat out right there on the doorstep. That would be messy. We reach the bed, blood boiling in my ears, burning my throat with the smell of it. I throw her down, she's ripping at my clothes. I can't control myself any longer - I'm barely inside her when my teeth pierce the soft, fragrant skin of her neck. They slide in as if she was made of butter, and the glorious, warm red liquid gushes into my mouth. It's quick, she's dead before she realises what's happening. That's why I like them drunk first - impairs the flavour slightly but it's nicer for them. I have some hint of morals, at least. I drink her dry, relishing the feeling o blood dripping down my chin. But through the wave of ecstasy coursing through my body breaks one haunting thought - _I have to stop doing this. _


	2. Chapter 2

_I just want to thank everyone for their comments! It made me write the next chapter straight away. Hope you like it :) haha I needed something to keep me going now the series is finished. P.s. I'll try to make chapters longer in future._

Sometimes I wonder if a hospital is the best place for a vampire to be working. Being surrounded by the temptation of blood, of helpless, weak people all day can be almost unbearable. But it keeps me strong, tests me daily so I don't get too complacent. Seeing someone with a bleeding wound isn't a problem like it once was - I can control myself, hold myself back and act 'normal'. Sometimes I even con myself into thinking that I could imitate a normal human life, that I don't need the blood, I can walk in the sunlight and it doesn't bother me. But I _do _need the blood, no matter how much I deny myself. And the sunlight _does_ bother me, no matter how hard and long I stare into the sky. And I don't age. I m frozen, and I will be this way forever. This is what I am. So I kill again. It's just nature, neither good or bad, it just is. I just am. Or that's what I tell myself. I have to stop this eternal conflict in my mind - because that's what it really could be, eternal. I have to make a choice and stick to it. Do I allow myself to be what I am, dark as that is, Or can I be something else? Can I be human again?

I'm just trying to put these thoughts out of my mind before I meet Seth and his cronies when I hear shouts, screams echoing towards me from an alleyway. Maybe it's the thought of being human that colours my judgement, but I feel sorry for the poor Lyco kneeling there in a pool of his own blood, And I always did hate Seth, so any chance to get one up on him is a good thing in my book. Sneaky, jealous little bastard. But believe me, I didn't go in there trying to be a hero. Like I told Seth, I've got no love for Lyco's, but I guess I've got no problem with them either, because even after they were gone, I couldn't just leave him. He was so pitiful., so naïve, and so alone. A broken man who had lost everything, and yet still managed to retain his humanity. He wasn't exactly coping well, and now here I was telling him that vampires exist, they want to kill him and he has to move on again. I don't know when I first thought it - that maybe here was someone I could get close to without the temptation of his blood. Someone who was as close to human as I could get , who could help me remember what it means to be human. So it wasn't a completely selfless act when I offered to find him a place to stay and a new job. We could help each other. It was, however, a much bigger and more fateful decision than I could ever have guessed.


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks to everyone for their comments! Sorry it took a while and is still quite short :) thanks for reading!_

When I first awoke to see Herrick smiling down at me, when I took in that first breath of the new air and felt the potent energy of my body, of the 'gift' he'd given me, I felt nothing but joyous gratitude. For who could witness the terrible truth of death and not be glad of an escape? All around me lay the bodies of my fallen comrades, many of whom had been murdered by the very man who was now embracing me like a son, and I realised I felt nothing for them. Actually, I wished it had been me who'd killed them, felt the blood flow through my lips, drip down my chin. I wanted to kill everyone I'd ever known, anyone who crossed my path. I wanted to drink them dry and dance in their blood. Herrick held me at arms length, and I realised I'd been gripping, digging my nails into his arms as he held me. He looked me in the eye, grinning - oh, that smile that nearly a century later I would hate so much - like a proud father. 'Getting hungry, are we? Let's find you something to eat.'

That first time I fed I thought I'd never stop, finished three in one sitting. Herrick picked them out for me. German soldiers, not that I cared one bit about the promise he'd made to my former, human self just hours before about sparing my troops. I'd have killed my whole battalion given the chance, that's just how it is when a new vampire is born. I still thank God I was nowhere near my family when I was changed, or I would have massacred them all, and I don't think I could have lived long with that. The whole time I was feeding, I could sense Herrick watching me. Not joining in, not even taking a drop from my prey, just watching, a look of near elation on his face. He had created something almost as ferocious as himself, he told me later.

I became his model student. I followed him everywhere - for where else did I have to go? A vampire is tied to his sire, and the sire has a responsibility to his creation, for a newly-turned vampire left unwatched is a dangerous thing. We need to be taught how to control our impulses, our cravings. And of course we need to be taught how to go about our business undetected. But why do we make a person a vampire? And how do we choose who to change? I think for Herrick, like for all of us, the main reason is loneliness. Yes, he was by no means alone, high up in the pecking order of our kind he had many waiting to do his bidding, for a place at his right hand was highly sought after. But, conceited as he was, he felt no one could match him for intellect. He needed someone he could really talk to, someone he could plan with. For what use is an ingenious plan without someone to share it with, someone to appreciate it and put it into action? These were the reasons that I was turned into a monster - Herrick needed an ego boost, a disciple and, if you can call it that, a friend. And for over eighty years, that's exactly what I was.


End file.
